


The Void Has a Lot to Say

by iamaturnipareyouaturnip



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-24 05:32:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17698580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamaturnipareyouaturnip/pseuds/iamaturnipareyouaturnip
Summary: SHIELD knows the world needs the Avengers, but they need all the resources they have to keep them from breaking apart, that includes a semi-stable super-empath, who may or may not be an alien, who likes to talk about science.  Indigo might be able to control matter and read emotion, but she's only here for the coffee.





	1. Things and Stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes and totes and frogs and wasps and bees, so many bees. You better watch out, Mothman never liked to eat people anyways.

 “Do you believe in magic? Well you shouldn’t. It isn’t real and that’s a fact. Because, well everything is made of stuff,” she tells the kids in front of her. They nod, having learned by now, any guest speaker is crazy, and the best way to survive is to play along. You do negotiate with terrorists here.

 “Everything is made of stuff,” she repeated. “And the stuff is made of things and things, well, no one knows what things are made of. And if we could look closely at everything, maybe nothing would be mysterious, because we could SEE the things!”

A teacher in the back looked around the room and left. Someone in the crowd sneezed.

 “Bless you. What’s your name?” The child looked up, astonished.

 “Uh- Catherine,” she said, smoothing out her uniform skirt, she looked uncomfortable.

 “Catherine, Catherine, you never can be too careful with girls called Catherine, can you? Brave and smart. Very dangerous. Tell me, Catherine, do you know what sound is made of?”

 “Vibrations through the air?” she asked. Indigo was rambing, she knew it. She knew she was getting nowhere fast, and this kid was scared of her. Maybe that was a good thing. She would be scared, too.

 “Yes, yes and the air made of Nitrogen and Oxygen and argon and carbon dioxide, and those made up of atoms and those of electrons and protons and neutrons and those made up of leptons and quarks and so on and so forth, but that’s just stuff. You learn plenty of stuff in classes. Maybe you even understand the stuff, maybe not. But we have yet to get to the things.”

 “What are things?” A kid shouted, a teacher shushed him.

 “No, no, no, yes, excellent question. What are things? Well, honestly, I don’t know, I don’t think I can describe it to you yet, but Catherine?”

 “Uh, yes?” She replied nervously, every face in the crowd turning back to her.

 “May I borrow your shoe?”

 “My shoe? I mean, I guess,” she mumbled, slipping off the shoe. It was a Toms knock-off, but you couldn’t tell unless you looked closely. Catherine didn’t like those shoes very much, her grandma had bought them at a thrift store, but she had chem lab today, and needed close toes that weren’t smelly like her sneakers.

 “Toss it to me will you?” Indigo asked, a good eight rows from her. The crow was titering anxiously by this point, unsure, but bored. The shoe arched over the crowd and landed squarely in Indigo’s hands, a couple people clapped, one whistled. Indigo looked pleased with the catch, as she wasn’t one for sports. But then again, what was she one for? Not her job, certainly? Science? Writing? Talking? Teaching? Espionage? Her job was weird, but at least this part was kind of fun.

 “Alright. Now, things,” she addressed the crowd, “in the simplest terms, are energy. They are when energy merges with stuff.” She held the shoe above her head, being short, she wanted to make sure everyone could see it.

 “This shoe is made of stuff, cotton, polyester- wait it’s a Toms, right? So like what are they made of? Recycled newspaper? I dunno, anyway, it’s made of these things, and all of these things were once part of some kind of living thing, like plants in cotton, or plankton in oil. And these living things are in fact, things! They are stuff with energy. So, they still have parts of that energy still inside them! And we can use that energy,” she said, starting to really enjoy herself, everyone who wanted to understand was getting it, and they all would want to soon.

“Alright, I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” eyebrows among the crowd were raised, specifically from a kid in the second row, who had been practicing the entire speech.

 “I’m not just any weird scientist that came to your school to talk about weird science. I am currently, the only person who can harness this energy without- Well, maybe better just show you.” She grinned, tossing the shoe into the air, the crowds gaze following it, there were gasps as it split into billions of pieces above their heads.

 “The energy,” she said, moving her hand, seeming controlling the knock-off Toms dust, pushing it down, closer to the kids, as it formed shapes, splitting and reforming geometrically like fractals, “is still here. It’s all around you!”

The dust formed into birds, that flew around the room, into each other, combining into a single bird.

 “It’s got endless possibility, but we need people, like you, to investigate and learn, we need inquisitive minds, all of you, to help us, to make the world better.”

The bird was circling over Catherine, suddenly turned back into a Tom, and she caught it.

 “Thank you for your time, there will be no questions, I’ve got to go, Thank you, Goodbye!” She practically ran from the room as the wild applause broke out.

It was the best magic trick the school had seen, and they would wonder how she did it for decades. They didn’t know where she came from, or where she went, but no one ever believed them when they said they saw magic.

Because there’s no such thing as magic. It isn’t real, and that’s a fact.


	2. Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So-- You liked it? You’re reading the second chapter?

 Indigo always liked school. She was good enough at ignoring people and appeasing dictators that it usually worked out pretty well for her. It was worth it, the worst parts, for the best parts. People had always invested a lot in her education. Gifted schools were still public schools, but they always seemed to receive so much more funding. And the teachers were so much more understanding. She like school so much, even when it was over, she continued to go. Unfortunately, it caused a couple problems.

 “Oh my God, Indigo, I know it’s legal, but you’ve got to stop doing that.”

 “I think I motivated kids to go into STEAM fields, right?” she asked, not really looking for approval. Honestly, she was looking harder for the coffee. Not that cheap stuff, the Hawaiian kind she kept in the safe. Bobby Jo must’ve found it.

 “You realize this is a secret organization.”

She looked up from searching the cabinet. Bobby Jo didn’t really look angry, or even concerned as her voice implied. Her expression veered closer in the direction of amused or resigned. But then again, it was always hard to tell based off expression alone. Luckily she had some tricks for emotions up her sleeve.

She was amused, ever so slightly. She did like Indigo, and it made her happy that she was doing something she liked, but Bobby Jo was still concerned with protocol. Always, the rules of the organization that had information on everything, so their suggestions must mean something. You can’t trust the government for everything, but you can try. You have more taxpayers if everyone’s alive and working. She wanted Indigo safe, above all else, but that conflicted with wanting her happy. But in a moment, it all changed.

 “You just read me, didn’t you?” she asked with a hidden laugh. How could this woman be so happy, all the time?

 “Yeah, I get it, though,” she blushed.

 “Oh, I should’ve known! You empaths and your mind reading, never can give it a rest?” She was distracted by Bobby Jo’s accent for a moment, it was vaguely Scottish. I suppose that would explain the red hair.  
 

 “No, I never get any, that’s why I need my coffee?” she suggested.

 “Oh, no way, not a chance! I tried that stuff, you are NEVER getting it back, where did you get it?”

 “I have connections…” she said in a deep voice, pulling up the collar on her coat, raising her eyebrow suspiciously. Bobby Jo looked around the empty office.  
 

 “Is it drugs?” she whispered.

 “No,” she said, back to normal. “I got in a gift exchange, it’s from Hawaii. But I’m addicted. And I need it back. Where did you hide it?”

Bobby Jo didn’t respond, just looked smugggier than the smuggiest smug that ever smugged with an extra smug that out smugged all the other smugs with smugness that conquers smug the smug universe. It even has more smug then the smug that smugged all other smugs. It would even be smug equivalent to all that with smug sauce to top it off.

 “Bobby Jo, I will forcibly search this premises with my mind!”

 “You’ll never find it.”

 “You’ve got to be kidding!” She groaned, collapsing into a wheely chair.

 “You have a new assignment.” There was a tense pause.

 “I’m worried,” Indigo answered tensley. “Not because it’s an assignment, but because you think you have to take my coffee for me to accept it.” Indigo liked her missions. Aside from getting paid, they usually provided a source of entertainment, or at least something to do. People in this office didn’t do much, except anything they could get away with. Which wasn’t very much.

 “It’s a long term assignment.”

 “What?”

 “And I don’t know much, but they are really dysfunctional.”

 “No, I don’t want it. I decline.”

 “They asked for someone with an extra power, that’s your or Charlie, she’s unstable.”

 “I said I decline.”

 “They’re safe, not traders or traitors, everything checks out.”

 “I don’t care, I’m declining!”

 “They’re public, I hear they’re recognized.” She looked up. This was curious.

 “What SHIELD team is recognized?”

 “Hell if I know,” Bobby-Jo shook her head. “You’re relocating soon anyway, why not to their headquarters, New York City? They’re have enough clearance, you can have free schedule.”

 “That’s real appealing, like, so appealing I could almost consider it, you have no idea how hard it is to not eat at the same restaurant twice. But I still decline.”

 Bobby Jo sighed, brushing her hair that had fallen out of the perfect bun back on her head.

 “I’ll give you your coffee back.”  
  
 “It’s a deal.”


	3. Almost Human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You’re still here, reader? What do you want? What are you expecting to find? Who are you? The only thing here a a poem!

They don’t know where she came from.

She knows.

She doesn’t tell.

She’s almost Human.

She just showed up one day, gasping for air-- 

No, not air. 

Vacuum. 

She was gasping for the vacuum.

They didn’t look for her yet. They didn’t have to. 

She only existed in the almost.

Almost here.

Almost understandable.

Almost real.

Almost Human.

Why school?

Why is it always the schools?

Maybe there’s a reason it’s like this.

Practice for dictatorship.

Submit to survive.

They didn’t find her at school.

They found her in the back of van.

They were  _ looking _ for her,

But they weren’t looking for  _ her. _

They were looking to stop trades of people like her.

So, of course, they found her.

Took her away.

Tested and tested.

They still don’t know what she is.

Almost Human.

Don’t read into the name.

She saw it on a billboard.

She memorized the shape before she learned to read.

Associated it with the sound, the color, the way her mouth had to move, the emotion.

Eventually.

Calling her an Alien is an understatement and an overstatement.

She is not from somewhere.

She is somewhere.

She is the Stars.

She is the Void.

She is the Planets.

She is the Space.

She’s here.

And she’s Almost Human.


	4. Isotopes of Stardust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, darling, this one's for you, you Amphibious Creature from the Deeps of the Ocean and Hell itself! ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn’t really think you could survive autoshop, did you? Dolphins can’t even breathe underwater. You can’t expect everyone to know the family secret unless you tell them. A raven is just a really weird looking octopus, but that’s none of my business. I hope you know what an Isotope is.

“We’re made of stardust,” Indigo said, speaking to the high schoolers, seated awkwardly in the gym. They were listening for the moment, but she knew it wouldn’t last. 

“We’re made of Stardust. You’ve heard this one before. We’re made of the same things stars are made of. But then again, the same chemicals and meat and bones that make up us also made up Hitler, and Ed Gein.”

There was stirring at the name, asks and answers and shudders. Ed Gein made lampshades of human skin. 

“Everything in the universe is just everything else in the universe mixed up a little. You are just the person next to you shaken up and switched around. Every proton is the same. Exactly the same. There’s no difference between one from iron, or one from Uranium. Just amounts of them. There’s the same number of protons in Sodium Chloride as Nickel. Sodium chloride, 28 protons, 28 electrons, 30 neutrons. Nickel, has 28 protons, 28 electrons, and 30 neutrons is some isotopes. There is nothing else inside them, but they’re different. They’re just arranged differently, that’s the only difference.” 

Someone was taking notes, someone was asleep, but someone was listening, maybe more than one. It didn’t matter. If nothing, these kids got a break from the system designed to destroy them.

“You’re made of stardust, Hitler was made of stardust, I’m made of stardust, it’s how we’re arranged and where we are that makes all the difference. Go into science. Or philosophy maybe. Thank you.”

There was a wild round of applause, but she was gone before anyone could wake up. She wasn’t there for the applause and the applause wasn’t there for her. It was so the audience had time to learn to move again. Also they like to show off how well they can whistle.

Indigo didn’t prepare speeches. The universe flowed through her, and she through the universe. Planets could whisper to life, Stars could sing their prayers and the Void could speak to those who gaze into it. It gazes back.

That’s funny.

It has your eyes.


End file.
